I thought I was writing songs…
Turns out...
I was writing my life.
Every song was leaving clues...
to a story I wouldn't understand until many years later.
That probably sounds like an odd thing for a songwriter to say.
After all...
I wrote them.
I recorded them.
I performed them.
Some climbed the charts.
Others quietly found homes in people's lives.
If you had asked me then what I was doing...
I would have told you I was making music.
I would have been wrong.
It wasn't until I retired from touring that I began opening boxes I hadn't touched in decades.
Boxes full of spiral notebooks.
Yellow legal pads.
Old photographs.
Letters.
Ticket stubs.
Newspaper clippings.
The kind of things we all tell ourselves we'll organize someday.
I started reading.
Not because I was writing a book.
Not because I was looking for another song.
Mostly because I was curious.
Somewhere between those old notebooks...
and memories I hadn't visited in years...
something unexpected happened.
I stopped remembering the songs.
I started remembering the people.
My dad.
My mom.
My brother.
The friends who taught me things they never realized they were teaching.
The teachers who believed in me before I believed in myself.
A creek that became an entire world.
The first girl I ever loved...
who never could have imagined she'd still be finding
her way into my songs more than fifty years later.
I hadn't gone looking for any of them.
They were simply waiting...
patiently...
inside the music.
That's when it finally occurred to me.
The songs were never the destination.
They were simply the breadcrumbs...
leading me back home.
Every lyric pointed toward a person.
Every melody led back to a place.
Every album quietly carried another chapter
of a story I hadn't yet learned how to tell.
This website is where I finally get to tell that story.
Not because I think my life was extraordinary.
Because I think it was wonderfully ordinary.
And I've come to believe ordinary lives are where the best stories live.
Together...
we'll meet people who changed me.
Some knew they were doing it.
Most didn't.
We'll visit Willow Creek.
Sit on front porches.
Ride in old cars.
Stand beside hospital beds.
Celebrate victories.
Live through heartbreak.
Laugh more than you probably expect.
And if we're both lucky...
you may find yourself remembering places...
people...
and moments...
that shaped your own life.
Because that's what stories do.
They remind us we're all a little more alike than we ever imagined.
So...
pull up a chair.
Stay as long as you'd like.
We've got some stories to tell.
And who knows...
before we're finished...
maybe you'll remember a few of your own.
I'm glad you stopped by.
Come on...
Let's go see where the songs began.
— Bill
Continue the Story
Where the Songs Began — Chapter Guide
Read straight through, or choose the part of the journey calling you back.
The Early Years
Prelude: Before We Begin
A songwriter opens old boxes and realizes the songs were breadcrumbs leading him back home.
Chapter 1: The Phone Call
One phone call—and one question—starts the journey back to Willow Creek.
Chapter 2: The First Day of School
Illness, recovery, and a first day of school begin changing how a young boy sees the world.
Chapter 3: The Living Room
A family living room becomes a place where imagination, music, and possibility take root.
Chapter 4: The First Steps Back
Returning to ordinary life after illness teaches patience, observation, and resilience.
Chapter 5: Wonderfully Ordinary
The work, wonder, and people of an ordinary childhood reveal why ordinary lives hold the best stories.
Finding the Music
Chapter 6: Finding My Voice
Early music and first chords help Bill discover a voice that belongs to him.
Chapter 7: The Notebook Years
Old notebooks preserve the questions, ideas, and memories that would later become songs.
Chapter 8: The Audition
A new school and a junior-high talent show teach Bill that every musician needs a backup song—and a way to turn “no” into “yes.”
Chapter 9: Maybe... Maybe Not
Young love, uncertainty, and a life-changing relationship leave echoes that last for decades.
Chapter 10: The Honor Society Dance
A snowy first date, a Triumph sports car, an ice fight, and a first kiss make the Honor Society Dance unforgettable.
Chapter 11: Quietly Perfect Times
Simple moments become the quietly perfect memories whose meaning grows with time.
Chapter 12: After the Music Stopped
After the audience leaves, an unexpected backstage conversation opens a door Bill never imagined could be real.
Behind the Curtain
Chapter 13: We’d Like to Meet Your Parents
A request to meet Bill’s parents transforms a thrilling possibility into an invitation that could change everything.
Chapter 14: Behind the Curtain
Bill steps behind the curtain and into the professional music world he had only imagined from the audience.
Chapter 15: Five Concerts
Five concerts, life on a bus, and unexpected attention show fifteen-year-old Bill how quickly the road can change a life.
Growing Up and Moving On
Chapter 16: Home, But Not the Same
Bill returns home outwardly unchanged, but music has begun pulling him toward a future he cannot yet explain.
Chapter 17: The Talent Show
Still riding the high from the tour, Bill walks onto a junior-high stage and discovers that one girl in the audience can matter more than the size of the crowd.
Chapter 18: Too Big for My Britches
A legitimate California opportunity leads to Dad’s difficult decision and a Willow Creek lesson Bill needs fifty years to understand.
Chapter 19: Stage Lights, Algebra, and Bad Decisions
Stage lights, algebra, and youthful certainty collide with some memorably bad decisions.
Chapter 20: The Porch
A porch becomes the setting for love, regret, responsibility, and a goodbye that still matters.
Chapter 21: The Best Kept Secret
Questions, mysteries, and a carefully guarded secret complicate the story behind the songs.
Chapter 22: Every Song Has a Beginning
The notebooks open, revealing how real moments slowly found their way into lyrics and melodies.
Chapter 23: College Had Officially Begun
A road trip, a wrestler roommate, and Student Union economics introduce Bill to his unconventional college education.
Chapter 24: Making It Up As I Went Along
College and changing plans teach Bill how to build a life without having all the answers.
Spreadsheets, Suits, and Songs
Chapter 25: Formalwear and Other Benefits
A formalwear shop, bridal fashion shows, and being “Bob’s boy” introduce Bill to real work and the complicated weight of a family name.
Chapter 26: The Helper
Night shifts, real jobs, and family expectations shape Little Ab into a man finding his own way.
Chapter 27: The Spreadsheet, the Suit, and the Stories
Spreadsheets and suits lead to international leadership while the songwriter quietly remains.
Epilogue
Epilogue: The Life That Became the Songs
Family, love, loss, music, and an unfinished life come together in the story’s closing reflection.
The Soundtrack of My Story
The songs, recordings, and stories that grew from the life told in these pages.